• Effectively address the new social, political and economic realities in Africa and the world
• Revitalise the continental organisation to play a more active role in addressing the needs of the people
• Eliminate the scourge of conflicts
• Harness human and natural resources

The OAU was formed on 25 May 1963 in Ethiopia by 32 countries. Others joined gradually over the years, with South Africa being the 53rd member in 1994. There was growing realisation that the OAU had served its mission of being a political organisation, that also discussed matters of economic and social concern. What was needed was a new structure to deal with Africa’s current problems. When Nigeria deposited its instrument for the ratification of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, it became the 36th member to do so, thus fulfilling the two-thirds majority required to make the Act come into force on 26 May 2001.

On 1 July 2002, the 39 year-old OAU was buried in Durban, South Africa. From its ashes rose the African Union (AU), with the grandiose plan of reducing poverty and promoting good governance. The guiding principle of the AU remains the same as envisioned by Pan-African visionaries, such as Kwame Nkrumah, Mwalimu Nyerere and Abdel Nasser who wanted a better life for all Africans. The Constitutive Act of the AU is ‘inspired by the noble ideals, which guided the founding fathers of our continental organisation and generations of Pan-Africanists in their determination to promote unity, solidarity, cohesion and co-operation among the peoples of Africa and African States.’ The AU was to be an organisation whose focus is economic integration and social development leading to political unity.

From OAU to AU
The Aims of the OAU were:
• To promote the unity and solidarity of African states;
• To co-ordinate and intensify their co-operation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa;
• To defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence;
• To eradicate all forms of colonialism from Africa; and
• To promote international co-operation.

Part of the aims of the AU are to:
• Achieve greater unity and solidarity between African countries and the peoples of Africa;
• Defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its member states;
• Accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
• Promote and defend Africa-common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples;
• Encourage international co-operation, taking due account of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• Promote peace, security, and stability on the continent;
• Promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance;
• Promote and protect human peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and other relevant human rights instruments;
• Establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and international negotiations;
• Promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels.

Organs of the AU
The supreme organ of the AU is the Assembly which comprises of Heads of State and Government. Below it is the Executive Council which is comprised of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Issues discussed at this level also form part of the agenda for the Assembly. A Commission, based at the headquarters of the AU, is constituted and headed by the Chairperson of the AU. The Chair is assisted by a Deputy Chairperson and Commissioners. The AU will also have a Permanent Representatives Committee, a Pan African Parliament, a Court of Justice and Specialised Technical Committees, to help it carry out its mandate.
It will have a standby peacekeeping force drawn from African armies that will be well equipped to intervene in African conflicts. It will also have a central bank and establish a single currency.

Past and present key officers
The President of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa is the former and last chairman of the OAU. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa is the current chairman of the African Union while Amara Essy, is the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union.

Looking forward
The OAU was often criticised for failing to act on conflict in Africa. Its prevarication when handling African conflicts was used as justification by countries of the West to play broker in African conflicts requiring African solutions. As parts 4 (h) and (j) of the Constitutive Act give the AU the right to intervene in instances of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity there is hope that this will no longer be the case.
Global trade is another area that is crying out for attention and must not be ignored by the AU. Since the setting up of the first trade body in 1948, global trade has grown 12-fold. The world trading system is still fraught with irregularities and Africa needs to review the terms under which it is participating. Despite their hyped success, trade rounds have not benefited Africa much, because the products where the developing countries have an advantage (especially agricultural products) still face barriers in the industrialised world. Developing countries continue to receive less and less for their exports of tea, coffee and cotton, yet they have to pay more for their imports such as machinery. The problem of declining terms of trade continues to challenge the logic of the contemporary trading system.
African countries should show their commitment by financing their Union. It is embarrassing that of the 53 OAU members, only 16 had settled their dues. This means that at its birth, the AU inherited a US$42 million debt.
As Africa’s development takes centre stage, there are some hard choices that have to be made. The AU is a welcome development because it has brought trade and economics into the centre of the discourse, as well as the matters of security and peace-keeping, that were the hallmark of the OAU. But the AU appears to chained to an economic strategy – NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development - see SEATINI Factsheet 21) – that does not inspire confidence. If the last century was one of political liberation, this one is for Africa’s economic liberation. That liberation will not come about through NEPAD as presently conceived, which is very much dependent on the goodwill of the developed world. The AU is born with the yoke of NEPAD around its neck and this yoke must be removed before proper economic liberation can take place. There is no need for the AU to take any rushed decisions.